...a real business with real revenue and a real need for capital often can't get a bank to move at the speed the business actually needs.
A New Report Every Week
Every few days now, another bank puts out a glossy report about the future of private markets. Private credit is booming. Private markets are worth nearly $20 trillion. Retail investors are finally getting access to alternatives that used to be reserved for institutions and the ultra-wealthy.
I read a few of these lately. Good research, mostly correct conclusions. But I kept having the same reaction: welcome to the party, guys.
Banks Pulled Back. Somebody Had to Show Up.
Here's the actual story behind the headlines, stripped of the jargon: banks have spent the last several years getting more conservative about who they'll lend to and how fast they'll move. Regulatory pressure, risk aversion, whatever the reason — the practical result is that a real business with real revenue and a real need for capital often can't get a bank to move at the speed the business actually needs.
That gap didn't appear because private credit got trendy. Private credit got trendy because the gap was already there, and somebody had to fill it.
We've been filling pieces of that gap for years. None of that was built because a report told us private credit was having a moment. It was built because we kept running into the same businesses saying the same thing: we can fulfill this, we can grow this, we just need capital that moves at our speed instead of the bank's speed.
you can read more about my philosophy here
We've Done This Before
This isn't our first time running a lending strategy like this, either. Before Summit Bridge, before Coastal Plains, before Presidia, we ran a vertical called Carta Capital — collateralized lending, first-lien position on home-flip mortgages. Real assets, real collateral, real borrowers with real projects. It worked, and it taught us a lot about what disciplined structure actually looks like when you're the one holding the first position, not just writing a check and hoping.
Every vertical we've built since carries pieces of that same discipline: understand the collateral, understand the borrower, structure it so the downside is protected before you ever think about the upside.
Your 401(k) Is About to Meet Private Markets
The bigger story in these reports, honestly, is what's happening with retirement accounts. Regulatory changes are opening the door for 401(k) plans to include private market exposure — real estate, private credit, private equity — the kind of access that used to require accredited investor status and a direct relationship with a fund.
That's a genuinely big shift. For decades, the best-performing corner of the investing world was mostly closed to regular people, and the biggest institutions in finance are now racing to be the ones who open the door.
I think that's good, generally. More access is good. But I'd gently push back on one thing: access isn't the same as understanding. Just because a private credit fund shows up as an option in a retirement account doesn't mean the underlying business got any less complicated. Somebody still has to understand the receivable. Somebody still has to underwrite the borrower. Somebody still has to be the operator in the room, not just the name on a report.
What "Side Street" Actually Means
I've said before that we think about investing as Side Street versus Wall Street. Wall Street writes the reports, discovers the trend, and builds the product to sell it. Side Street is out talking to the actual business owner, understanding why they need the capital, and structuring something that works for both sides before anybody's written a headline about it.
Neither approach is wrong. But I'd rather be early to the actual work than early to the press release.
The Part Nobody Puts in the Report
Here's what I haven't seen in any of these outlooks: the actual texture of doing this work. What it looks like to sit across from a founder who needs working capital by Friday, not next quarter. What it means to underwrite a receivable by actually understanding the customer behind it, not just running it through a model. That part doesn't show up in a 40-page PDF with a chart on every page. It shows up in the work.
The Bottom Line
I don't say any of this to be dismissive of the big banks catching up. More capital paying attention to private markets is, on balance, a good thing for everybody doing this seriously. But I'd remind anyone reading one of these reports for the first time: the opportunity isn't new. The headline is.
We were already here. We're just glad you're finally reading about it.
Our new investment vertical, Coastal Plains, is now on-line and ready for accredited investors. Contact us to learn more.
